Those of you who have been reading this blog for awhile have probably figured out that there is a fairly large age-span between our kids.  They’re 10, 15 (almost 16), 19, 25 and 27.  Is it just me or do they never get to old for Easter baskets?  -lol-  We have added two fabulous son-in-laws and three extraordinary grandkids to our clan and I still love making Easter baskets for all of them.  It’s really hard that our second daughter and son-in-law live in California, this year.  It’s odd not to put one together for them.  Maybe I should just make some and mail them….hmmmm…  Some traditions are just too fun to outgrow.  It’s a small thing and has absolutely nothing to do with the meaning of Easter or why we celebrate it, and yet, it is a fun part of the day that young and old, alike, look forward to.  So, I have assembled nine Easter baskets this evening, instead of 11 (Yes, I made one for my husband.  ) and I’m looking forward to everyone gathering at the house  for dinner, after church, tomorrow.  Everyone will enjoy their baskets, but the grandkids and our ten-year-old will be the most excited.  It will be fun to watch them discover the candy and surprises.

Easter "baskets" for our grandkids! Purple grass for Katie, pink for Lydia and a blue bowl for Hudson.

I take a slightly different than average approach to assembling Easter baskets.  The main difference being that I refuse to put them in baskets.  -lol-  I have a strong dislike for the flimsy, woven things that hit the shelves at Easter time and then end up crushed at the bottom of the toy box a week later, or strewn here, there and yonder around the house.  They’re not sturdy, they’re awkwardly shaped making them hard to store and can get pretty pricey.  In short, I hate wasting the money.  I have been known to simply bag up candy and surprises in ziptop bags, but usually our kids find their Easter “baskets” are actually a cool mug, storage container or cereal bowls.  I choose whatever my kitchen is short on or is in need of replacing.  Even as the kids have gotten older and moved out on their own, I have continued this tradition, which adds some new items to THEIR kitchens.  So, as I planned my list for Easter basket supplies I perused the cabinets to see what we really needed.  My intention when I headed to the store was to get some nice, brightly colored cups for iced tea, this summer.

I headed to our local Walmart to pick up the supplies I would need.  After looking over the selection of large plastic cups, I didn’t find anything that seemed just right, so I decided to check out the seasonal aisle where our store often displays tableware in colors that fit the holiday or season.  I found these bright colored tableware options, that looked like they would do nicely.  The cereal bowls seemed a little small for what I had in mind, since the Easter grass would take up a lot of the room, so I grabbed the slightly larger bowls which will be awesome for popcorn on movie nights.  Green, blue and orange made their way into my cart and on the end cap of the next aisle I  grabbed pink, purple, blue and green Easter grass.

These bright colored bowls will be fun AND practical. The kids are never interested in the container, beyond the time that the contents are gone, so I'm careful to make "baskets" in something that I can use in the kitchen, later.

Now, to fill them!  Candy is a given and really the “main feature”, but, at least for the little ones, I wanted to add a little something extra.  With all the sugary sweets they’d be eating, I thought that cute toothbrushes seemed like a fun and a practical choice.  It’s never too young to start teaching children about taking good care of their teeth and adding cute toothbrushes to their Easter baskets would make learning about it much more fun.  I knew that I could find all sorts of character themed designs.  So, I headed over to the health and beauty department and browsed the aisle with all the oral hygiene products.  It’s been awhile since I had to buy dental care items for toddlers.  I was amazed that they have an entire section devoted to products JUST for young children!  The number of options was mind-boggling.  Every brand had specialty products designed to amuse, care for and fit the small mouths of even the tiniest children and I had to decide which ones to choose.  I decided to stick with Colgate, since that’s a brand I had trusted with our own kids.  They have tons of products made specifically for little ones.  You can find out about all they have available, as well as specials, coupons and new products by following Colgate on Twitter and Facebook.

I was shocked at the variety and types of dental hygiene products being designed specifically for small children. Ours is not a huge Walmart and yet, they had quite a large section of these specialty products. I couldn't fit all of them into one picture!

Colgate makes pre-portioned toothpaste dispensers. I couldn't decide if this would solve some messy problems or create some new ones, so I decided against the electric Dora and Spongebob toothpaste dispensers, but it was fun to discover such a thing existed.

Manual toothbrushes in tiny sizes and every possible character design. Colgate had Dora and Sponge Bob on these, too.

Tiny electric toothbrushes! Who knew?

Toothpaste, specially formulated, to be safer for young children as they learn to brush their teeth and occasionally forget not to swallow it.

So, besides a cart full of candy, I picked out some Colgate Dora and Sponge Bob toothbrushes and toothpaste for our grandchildren’s Easter “baskets” and headed home to put baskets together for everyone.

Enough candy for 9 baskets (and a little left over for Grandma).

The Colgate products I selected for the grandbabies' Easter baskets. There's some Easter grass covering it up, but that's a Sponge Bob toothbrush on the right.

So, the “baskets” are done and will hopefully inspire lots of Easter smiles.  I’m looking forward to our day, tomorrow.  We’ll all attend church together.  I’m so blessed to be able to fill a row each week with children and grandchildren who love the Lord and to be able to worship with them.  After church we’ll head home to eat David’s delicious grilled pork chops, my “world-famous” potato salad and of course, LOTs of deviled eggs!  The kids will likely hide and hunt plastic eggs several times throughout the afternoon and we will all enjoy sharing some time together, to laugh, visit and enjoy a relaxing day.

This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. #CBias #EasterSmiles  As with all Busy-at-Home reviews, the views and opinions expressed are wholly my own.